Monday, March 19

I have been having a lot of fun playing with metal. It's great fun and it sharpens whatever I am using to cut it.. YAY!

I made this card for the Hambo Hoedown week #57. I got this cute puppy digi from them because I entered last week's challenge - and followed their simple rules*.

The name of this stamp is Bailey Hug. This week the challenge was to use stripes. I have plenty of stripes in browns but I thought I would switch things up a bit and have a purple puppy. I colored Bailey with my Copics:

I used metal from Walnut Hollow and embossed it with a Sizzix folder. Now that I am reviewing it, I kinda wish I would have colored his heart tag silver to tie things together more.

Check out the Hambo Hoedown challenge this week. It's fun to see what other stripes are out there!

Party on, Wayne!

*This is from an email I got from the folks at Hambo:PLEASE NOTE: We love sending out our free images to Hoedown participants! It is great fun to see what you create with them. That being said, because we send them out free to you, we expect something in return. Each email lists the official name of the digi you are receiving. It is always in a colored font. In your blog posts, we expect the official name to be used, and that credit is given to Hambo Stamps. We don't require that you link to the image, but we do require that the official name be used so that people looking at your work know who created and drew the image and can find the image if they would like to purchase it.

If the official name is not used in your blog posts, we will not be able to send out the following week's free image to you. Please understand that we are doing this to also protect our artwork. We appreciate your help in this matter. Okay, now on to the fun stuff!

Wednesday, March 14

Mo Manning's challenge this week asked us to try something new. I had just found some metal sheets on CLEARANCE at my local JoAnn's. I didn't need to think too long to decide to use the metal on my card this week.

The metal sheets are made by Walnut Hollow. I ended up buying a bunch of colors from them after I played a bit. This metal is so cool! You can emboss it and use punches and lots of other things! Everything I've tried has worked. And I haven't even gotten out my inks yet!

I used Mo's image, Painter Meg. She was so fun to color using my Copics. I added some Glossy Accents to the paint. I thought I could play off the metal of the pain can with the silver metal I had just gotten. I embossed the metal with an OLD sizzix plate called FRIEND. I cut out a portion that had the word FRIEND and several hearts..Then I punched out a row of circles with an EK Success border punch. That smoothed out the embossing a little but that was fine - I didn't want it to be distracting. If I wanted the embossing to be crisper I would cut the shape out first, then emboss it.

Thursday, March 8

It has been so long since I last posted that I have almost forgotten how to do this! Thank goodness, I made myself cheat notes way back when..

Hambo Stamps is celebrating 10 years in business! They will be having special events all month long. Today is the last day to take advantage of free shipping! I think it's great that they have rubber and digi stamps. They have some ribbon and marked down items too!

This week challenge number 56 is a tic-tac-toe challenge. To enter you need to use everything in a row from their board. I chose Orange (Background paper), Glossy Accents (Glossy Sticker and Glossy Accents on his eyes) and Dots (Background paper, again). I also used last week's challenge sketch - it worked out great!

Since I didn't have the chance to submit an entry last week I didn't get this week's free digi to work with so I dug out a digi that I did have from Hambo: Caped Chick.

I did a little paper piecing for his body, mask and cape. Then I colored the rest with Copics, like usual.

Thursday, January 26

Mo's challenge at the Digital Pencil this week was "All my Favorite Things". I needed to make a card for my sister... she is definitely one of my 'Favorite Things'! I decided to do one of her Favorite things...

She has had many pug dogs over the years.. Most were the usual buff color but I am sure her favorite was Libby. My sister got Libby when she was just a puppy - really just a little ball of black fur with a very pink tongue sticking out... Libby is no longer with us due to extreme old age. She was full of love and a wonderful companion.

My elderly aunt used the word MISS a lot.. As in "What are you up to, Miss?" or "Did you finish your chores, Miss?" Somewhere along the way we started using this when talking to Libby. "Are you hungry, Miss?" , "Do you need to go outside, Miss?" , Do you want a cracker, Miss?"

Mo Manning had the perfect digital stamp for this. It's called 'Pug Love'. Did I mention Libby was black? I've never tried to color something that was black, and fury. I think I colored over this image so many times the paper was actually getting thinner. I started really light but eventually realized Libby was a lot more of the BLACKest black than anything else. Well, near the end of her life she was almost white from age but I digress..

I Googled "Black Pug" images to give me inspiration. Thank God for the internet! Here are the Copics I used:

When I was satisfied with her I added some highlights with Copic Opaque White - it's actually paint. I made the whites of her eyes whiter (some bleeding from the blacks had occurred) and gave them highlights.

For a first try I think it came out pretty well.

I am not sure where I got the sentiment. I modified it slightly. It is labeled 'wuvyou--VIBGYOR-Krafts'. I tried a web search but couldn't narrow it down enough. If anyone knows where this sentiment is from, please let me know.

***Update***

I want to thank and give credit to E.T. from Karachi, Pakistan for the sentiment. She left me a comment saying it was from her blog - here is the link:

She has some beautiful projects on her blog. Also, a nice variety of freebies. Stop by and check it out.

THANKS FOR SHARING, E.T.!!!!

I used white VIVA decorator gloss gel to add the dots on the heart. I also used Glossy Accents from Ranger on her eyes (I put it on really thick on her eyes to make them more 'bulge-y) and nose and the corners of her mouth. In the picture you can really see how the eyes shine!

A doily from the cake decorating department at Michaels and some Recollections red crystal bling finish her off.

Saturday, January 21

The folks over at Hambo Stamps got a new puppy! He is too cute - go over and see him!﻿ It looks like they are going to start a new line of stamps named after him - Bailey's Line. This week's free image is a puppy! Sweet!

The challenge this week is to make a card for a child that is in the hospital for long-term care. They are asking that we mail the cards to Send a Smile 4 Kids so they can then forward them on to hospitals. This is a great cause so why don't you join us? You can use ANY Hambo image - then post it on the challenge and email it in too. Then, next week you will get the new free image!

I used the puppy digi and combined it with an earlier freebie - Grove of Trees.

And I finally got around to playing with my Copics this week! I used a lot of green. I just kept adding greens until I was happy with how things looked. Since there were a lot of green textures on this one I got to use several combos..

I cut it out using my Spellbinders. (Is there any other way to cut something out? LOL) The tag was also cut with a Spellbinder. The embossing is from a Sizzix folder from Stampin' Up. The sentiment is from a really old clear stamp - then I added some ribbon and voilà!

Now, go check out Bailey and enter the challenge yourself! It's fun to play along and see what everyone comes up with. And you might win a free digi stamp.

Wednesday, January 18

It's the wee hours of the morning and I have given up trying to sleep after watching the clock for the last 2 hours..

Have I mentioned that I love Mo Manning? I do. I really do.

The challenge this week at Mo's Challenge Blog was to make a project that was 'clean and simple.' OK, I cheated a little.. I had this image colored and fancy cut already.. I've had it on my bulletin board for a few months waiting for some inspiration.

I used Copic markers to color the image. When I decided to use it this week the color of her jumper clashed with the card base. Hmmmm. I decided to go over that part again using colors that were in the BG family. Originally the jumper was a light washed out denim color. Now it's more turquoise-y. This is only one of the many cool things about the Copics - you can play with them long after you have 'finished' something.

I combined Mo's image with a grassy background. I got this from a great site called Make It Crafty. They have some fabulous digi images and they also have actual rubber! Their challenge this week was Color Blades of Grass. I think this will barely qualify. I made a copy of the digi with the watermark M.K. on it . It's called Daffodil-dell. I use it often on my cards. I especially like how Bronte seems to be sniffing around..

OK, so here is the final card:

The sentiment is a rubber stamp I bought at a convention from 'a pile of rubber'. I've had it for quite a while now..

That's it for tonight. It's 4:30 AM and I am going to try to get back to sleep. (Good luck with that...)

Sunday, January 15

The Hambo Hoedown this week asked us to use the sentiment they gave us and use 2 different sizes of circles in the layout.﻿ Those of us who participated in last week's challenge (& also emailed our entries in) got the sentiment free.

Since I have been so sick I took the extremely easy way out of this one... Just being vertical for a while is an accomplishment for me..

I used pre-printed card base. I split up the sentiment so I could put part of it inside the card. Then I cut out the sentiments and cut and embossed them using Spellbinders.

Saturday, January 7

Bronchitis. Now we know why I feel like I have been on death's doorstep for the last 3 weeks.. I started super Rx drugs yesterday and I am already feeling a little better. At least well enough to turn my computer back on!

OK, back to cards.. This week at Hambo they asked us to use something new.. Oh good golly, where would I find something new to use on my card. I hardly ever purchase new things for my addiction...oh, wait,.. what are all these bags on the floor? Maybe I can find something in there..

Between holiday happenings and being so sick I haven't entered any challenges lately. Believe me, I haven't done much of anything lately! So I didn't get this week's free digi from Hambo..I used a digi from my stash!

My 'new' thing was the red paint sample swatch. I was going for a valentine feeling here... I think it came together nicely. And the best part is: I didn't spill any NyQuil on it! The sentiment was written on card stock and outlined with black pens. I didn't feel well enough to futz around on the computer to make it. I think it looks good, though. More beatnik, if you will.

Here are the Copics I used:

I also used the colorless blender and some cloth to give his hat and pants texture.

That's it for today. I'm going back to bed. Well, I am once I excavate it from under all the used Kleenexes that almost have it buried...

I make cards for Operation Write Home

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About Me

I live in Minnesota where it helps a lot to be crazy. Speaking of crazy - my husband has been married to me for over 30 years.
I have a teenage son - he won't admit that, of course.
I work from home - I am lucky enough to have a large office/craft room to play in all day.